Saturday, May 12, 2012

Watsonville courthouse swarmed after child custody hearing

WATSONVILLE, Calif. - A 47-year-old man caused police and sheriff's deputies to swarm the Watsonville courthouse when he threatened to shoot people following a child custody hearing Thursday.

Brian Funk, of Santa Cruz, was calm during a child custody hearing, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies said. But about an hour later, at noon, he called his child's foster mother.

He told the foster mother that he had hidden a gun in the bushes outside the courthouse on Second Street, according to deputies. Funk threatened that he was going to retrieve the gun and shoot someone.

All streets around the courthouse were shut down and law enforcement officers surrounded the area, which is packed with schools, libraries, and other public service buildings.

Police officers said they found Funk trying to leave Watsonville on a metro bus less than an hour later. Funk was taken into custody and his mental health is being evaluated.

I don't know anything about this case, but it appears that this man was frustrated that his kid was foster care and the court was blocking him from seeing his child, so he made a foolish empty threat. There was no gun and he did not attempt to shoot anyone.

I am not condoning the threat, but I would order a mental health evaluation of the Watsonville court officials. I think that they are all mentally defective. I also would not necessarily believe the foster mom. Maybe she made up the story in order to keep the child, and to keep getting the monthly payments for having the child.

This article tells a somewhat different story, and says that Funk was arrested on a minor drug charge in March.

Update: A reader writes:

I saw the article on "Angry Dad" about "Dad Threatens Gun Violence After Custody Battle," i.e., "Watsonville courthouse swarmed after child custody hearing." I was initially surprised that it was NOT a "Mexican-American" since there are so many in the area and their family values are different from those typically found in the U.S. (see attached article, The Myth of Hispanic Family Values)

I had always heard that in the U.S., but have been unable to prove, that metal detectors were first introduced in Family Law Courts, not Criminal Law courts. If true, it speaks volumes about the laws and the "just-us" that is practiced therein. I have read emails from fathers who were planning on introducing violence to the courtroom of their child custody hearing, child support hearing etc. In fact, I believe, but once again don't have proof, that THE reason for the introduction of metal detectors was the unusually high number of Family Law Court Justices who were shot and killed after the radically changed Child Support Laws of 1994.

Yes, Watsonville is mostly Mexican. The city of Santa Cruz is most white liberals advocate open immigration but try to keep the Watsonville Mexicans a safe distance away.

The Santa Cruz county courthouse has always been in the city of Santa Cruz, but a branch courthouse was opened in Watsonville several years ago. It handles juvenile delinquents, family court, child abuse, and other problems common to Mexican-Americans. It has the family court judge for the whole county, so that is where my hearing are as well.

The metal detectors in both courts were indeed installed because of the family court, not the criminal court. I have forgotten the details, but there was a shooting in front of the Santa Cruz court in the 1990s, where a parent shot the lawyer of the other parent. The courthouse had a nice design making it very open to the public, but the entrances were all locked in order to route everyone thru a metal detector. There has never been a problem with the criminal court, as far as I know.

The fact that metal detectors were put in for the family court, not the criminal court, should tell you all you need to know. People understand that we need a criminal court, and their operations have broad acceptance of the public (with the possible exception of certain drug crimes). Much of what the family court does seems unnecessary, irrational, and cruel.

In Santa Cruz county, most social ills are more common among the Mexican-Americans in Watsonville than among the non-Mexicans in the rest of the county. There is a highway that connects Watsonville to Santa Cruz, but the white liberals who run the county have blocked expanding the highway, and made housing too expensive for the Mexicans to live anywhere but Watsonville. If I am wrong about anything, then please correct me.

Where did you hear about the white liberals blcking the highway expansion making housing too expensive for the Mexicans to liveanywhere but Watsonvile ? Is this something that you're just supposing is true ?

Hwy 1 has 2 lanes each way, and it is bumper-to-bumper during rush hour making it difficult to commute between Watsonville and Santa Cruz. Portions have 3 lanes. There have been proposals for 30 years to make it 3 lanes each way. The white liberals in Santa Cruz have always managed to block it.

Yes, Watsonville has some wealthy areas. But today's newspaper reported that a 24-year-old Watsonville man named Arturo Fernandez Mendoza was shot and killed at a party on Saturday night. That is what the white liberals in Santa Cruz want to personally avoid. And yes, such homicides are a whole lot more common among Mexican-Americans in Watsonville than among those in the rest of the county.

Where did you hear about the white liberals blcking the highway expansion making housing too expensive for the Mexicans to liveanywhere but Watsonvile ? Is this something that you're just supposing is true ?

Are you kidding? We've had several gang murders in the last year, and now the white liberals are cooperating with the federal immigration authorities. Their liberalism is being tested. And last week, a woman was murdered in broad daylight. She owned a prominent shop selling lingerie and lesbian sex toys, and the killer was a homeless transient with a history of crime and mental illness. I am expecting the white liberals to suddenly become less tolerant of the homeless, now that their toy supply is threatened.

Dear Angry Dad. I got the latest "Population by Race" for Watsonville, and it is untrue that it is mostly Mexican. The race statistics state that Watsonville is 55.23% white. (California is 55.43% white and the U.S. is 71.97 white.) Barbara

Yes, George, I have been to Watsonville, and many people speak English there - especially Family Court Judges :-) Regarding RACE, Watsonville is 55.23% white. I think you are arguing "ethnicity".This tidbit will probably make you happy - Mexican Americans have a lower divorce rate than whites!

The judges don't live in Watsonville. There are a couple of wealthy areas in Watsonville where rich white people live. Some Mexican-Americans call themselves white. So my statements about Watsonville were correct.

Dear George. It is not helpful to state that the court handles juvenile delinquents, family court, child-abuse and other problems common to Mexican-Americans. The comment sounds very stereotypical. What makes you think that Mexican-Americans have higher crime rates than other groups? Do you have the statistics? I am 100% Caucasian, and have taught school for several years in what was called a "ghetto", which was about 90% Mexican/American and about 10% Black. I was the only Caucasian in the classroom all those years. I found the Mexican-American families to be hard-workers, involved in their children's education, and devout Catholics. Additionally, their divorce rate is lower than Caucasians (probably their Catholicism is a big factor). One other thing I was impressed with is that they had a respect for this country, and seemed to be grateful to be here (which tends to make model citizens, in general). Maybe you would be interested in checking crime statistics by age, education level and socioeconomic level. Barbara

George - I found some interesting statistics: First, Watsonville's overall crime index is 24.1% lower than Santa Cruz. Additionally, according to cityrating.com/crime-statistics, the violent crime rate in Santa Cruz (2009 latest figures) is higher than the national violemt crime rate average by 87.85%, and the California violent crime rate by 70.91%. In Watsonville, the violent crime rate was higher than the national violent crime rate by 60.13%, and was higher than the California violent crime rate by 45.69% Barbara

Barbara, I don't know how you are getting those figures. Your web site says Watsonville and Santa Cruz have 700-800 violent crimes per 100k residents. Not sure what your point is. Santa Cruz does have more tourists, transients, and overly-tolerant liberals.